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Protestantism  in  Poland 


A  Brief  Study  of  its  History 
as  an  Encouragement  to 


Mission  Work  Among  the  Poles 


BY  THE 

Rev.  Charles  E.  Edwards 


l 


Philadelphia 

THE  WESTMINSTER  PRESS 
1910 


/ 


Copyright,  1901,  by 

The  Trustees  of  the  Presbyterian  Board  of  Publi 

CATION  AND  SABBATH-SCHOOL  WORK 


Mission  Work  Among  the  Poles 


Thousands  of  Poles  have  emigrated  to  the 
United  States.  Some  even  reckon  them  bv 
millions.  They  come  from  lands  destitute  of 
the  Scriptures.  Such  a  fair  opportunity  for 
giving  them  the  gospel  has  not  been  granted 
to  the  Church  for  three  centuries.  “  Can  they 
be  converted  ?  ”  is  the  cold  question  of  unbe¬ 
lief.  A  direct  answer  is  afforded  by  the  his¬ 
tory  of  the  Reformation  in  Poland ;  and  this 
history  may  be  used  in  America  to  encourage 
efforts  in  winning  a  new  people  for  Christ. 
“  The  past,  at  least,  is  secure,”  said  an  Ameri¬ 
can  statesman.  Poland  still  has  the  traces 
and  ruins  of  her  Reformation ;  and  even  the 
ruins  of  a  church  may  plead  for  the  gospel. 
Real  estate  agents  point  to  the  remains  of 
cities  built  in  the  far  West  by  an  ancient 
American  race,  and  argue  that  by  proper  ex¬ 
penditure  these  wastes  may  again  be  inhab- 

3 


4 


MISSION  WORK  AMONG  THE  POLES 


ited  and  become  like  the  garden  of  the  Lord. 
Isaiah  prophesies  concerning  our  Christian 
workers  :  “  And  they  shall  build  the  old  wastes, 
they  shall  raise  up  the  former  desolations,  and 
they  shall  repair  the  waste  cities,  the  desola¬ 
tions  of  many  generations.  And  strangers 
shall  stand  and  feed  your  Hocks,  and  the  sons 
of  the  alien  shall  be  your  plowmen  and  your 
vinedressers.” 

The  significance  of  the  .Reformation  in 
Poland  can  be  better  appreciated  if  we  recall 
its  former  greatness.  It  once  included  the 
whole  of  ancient  Scythia.  It  was  once  a 
European  power,  extending  from  the  Baltic  to 
the  Carpathian  Mountains  and  to  the  Black 
Sea,  and  from  the  Oder  to  the  Dnieper.  It 
once  had  two  hundred  and  eighty  thousand 
square  miles  and  fifteen  millions  of  people, 
when  France  had  two  hundred  and  eight 
thousand  square  miles  and  twenty  millions,  and 
the  vast  area  of  Russia,  twenty-five  millions  of 
subjects.  Its  plains  were  a  granary  for  Europe. 
It  was  larger  than  Spain,  and  not  much  less  than 
the  whole  of  Germany.  John  Calvin  wrote  to 
“the  most  mighty  and  most  serene  prince, 
Sigismund  Augustus,  by  the  grace  of  God, 
the  King  of  Poland,  Great  Duke  of  Lithuania 
Russia,  Prussia,  and  Lord  and  Heir  of  Mus- 


MISSION  WORK  AMONG  THE  POLES 


5 


covy/’  etc.;  and  these  titles  remind  us  of 
Polish  victories  and  power.  The  Emperor 
Charles  the  Fifth  obtained  dominions  more 
extensive  than  those  of  any  other  European 
sovereign  for  eight  hundred  years,  or  since  the 
days  of  Charlemagne.  It  is  a  marvel  of  God’s 
providence,  that  he  and  his  son  Philip  the  Sec¬ 
ond,  whose  possessions  included  the  distant 
Philippines  that  bear  his  name,  were  unable 
to  crush  the  Reformation,  which  was  led  by 
poor  men,  constantly  in  danger  of  exile,  im¬ 
prisonment,  or  death.  Coligni,  the  French 
admiral  and  statesman,  a  noble  Huguenot 
Presbyterian,  planned  a  gigantic  combination 
of  the  scattered  Protestants,  to  offset  the 
might  of  Spain  and  Austria.  A  majority  of 
the  Polish  Parliament  were  Protestants.  The 
armies  which  they  could  muster  when  their 
Reformation  flourished  were  sufficient  to 
check  those  of  Polish  Romanists.  Count  Va¬ 
lerian  Krasinski,  author  of  what  Prof.  W.  R. 
Morfill  terms  “  an  interesting  but  now  for¬ 
gotten  work  ”  1  on  the  Polish  Reformation,  de- 

1  Historical  Sketch  of  the  Rise ,  Progress  and  Decline  of  the 
Reformation  in  Poland ,  and  of  the  Influence  which  the  Scriptural 
Doctrines  have  exercised  on  that  Country  in  literary ,  moral ,  and 
political  Respects.  By  Count  Valerian  Krasinski.  2  Vols. 
London,  1838.  ‘  ‘  To  the  Protestants  of  the  British  Empire 


6 


MISSION  WORK  AMONG  THE  POLES 


dares  that  if  Coligni’s  plans  had  succeeded,  the 
Reformation  would  have  triumphed  over  all 
Europe. 

The  Poles  belong  to  the  great  Slavonic  race, 
which  includes  a  majority  of  the  inhabitants 
in  the  Austrian  and  Russian  empires,  besides 
myriads  of  others  in  provinces  subject  to  the 
Turk,  and  in  kingdoms  newly  freed  from  his 
rule.  The  Polish  people  may  be  traced  as  far 
back  as  the  sixth  century.  “At  the  time 
when  all  the  lands  forming  the  jagged  margin 
of  the  Mediterranean  were  included  in  the 
vast  empire  of  the  Roman  Csesars,  the  Slavo¬ 
nians  were  decidedly  the  most  numerous  of  the 
four  stock-races  which  divided  amongst  them 
the  rest  of  Europe — the  Celts  in  the  west,  the 
Goths  in  the  middle  and  north,  the  Slavonians 
in  the  east,  and  the  Ugrians  or  Finns  in  the 
extreme  circumpolar  regions.  Physically,  they 
are  a  well-formed  race,  taller  than  the  Celts, 
with  complexions  as  fair  or  nearly  as  fair  as 
the  Goths,  and  with  hair  brown  or  reddish, 
but  seldom  black.  Contrasted  with  the  Goths, 
they  are  what  physiologists  call  brachy-ce- 
phalic, — that  is,  their  heads  were  proportionally 
broader  across,  and  less  deep  from  front  to  back, 

and  of  the  United  States  of  America,  this  Work  is  respect¬ 
fully  dedicated  by  a  Polish  Protestant.” 


MISSION  WOllK  AMONG  THE  POLES 


7 


their  cheek-bones  being  in  consequence  some¬ 
what  more  prominent  and  their  eyes  smaller.”  1 
The  Polish  State  was  founded  by  Mieceslav 
the  First,  a  prince  of  the  Piast  dynasty,  about 
a  thousand  years  ago.  Poland  then  became 
nominally  Christian.  At  that  period  Cyril  and 
Methodius  translated  the  Scriptures  into  the 
Slavonian  tongue,  and  this  version  is  still  in 
use  in  all  Greek  Orthodox  churches.  The 
dialect  in  which  thev  wrote,  now  called  Church 
Slavonic,  is  of  great  importance  to  the  scien¬ 
tific  student  of  Slavonic  tongues,  which  differ 
from  each  other  less  than  Dutch  does  from 
German.  Yarious  Slavonic  countries  even¬ 
tually  were  won  over  to  the  Church  of  Pome. 
Those  who  deride  theology  as  of  no  practical 
importance,  should  consider  the  far-reaching 
consequences  of  religious  training,  which  are 
stamped  upon  the  Slavonic  peoples,  which  re¬ 
appear  in  their  American  immigrants,  and 
which  make  a  gulf  between  them  and  the 
Americans  who  have  a  pure  gospel.  Their 
alphabets,  literature,  schools,  architecture,  and 
historical  affiliations,  have  been  determined  by 
their  forms  of  religion.  Croatians  and  Serv¬ 
ians  are  the  same  people  and  speak  the  same 
language ;  but  Croatians  (who  gave  us  the 

1  Westminster  Review ,  G3  :  114,  etc. 


8 


MISSION  WORK  AMONG  THE  POLES 


word  cravat )  are  Romanists  and  use  the  Ro¬ 
man  alphabet,  while  Servians  use  the  Greek 
alphabet,  and  follow  the  Greek  Church.  “  The 
Bohemian  churches  are  of  a  German  Gothic  ; 
those  of  their  Russian  kinsfolk  followed 
models  of  Constantinople  in  architecture  and 
art,  as  well  as  discipline  and  ritual.”  1  As  are 
their  churches,  so  are  their  alphabets :  Poles 
and  Bohemians  use  Roman  letters ;  Russians 
and  Bulgarians,  the  Greek.  These  all  are  of 
the  Slavonic  race,  and  nearly  all  of  them  are 
represented  by  colonists,  schools,  and  churches, 
in  our  American  cities.  An  American  who  at¬ 
tempts  to  read  his  mother  tongue  when  trans¬ 
literated  in  Greek  letters,  can  see  an  illustra¬ 
tion  of  these  national  and  theological  differ¬ 
ences. 

During  stormy  centuries  of  the  Piast 
dynasty,  Rome  received  gifts  and  conces¬ 
sions  from  princes  who  sought  her  favor ;  yet 
she  seems  to  have  had  only  a  feeble  hold  upon 
Poland.  Other  countries  trembled  before  the 
thunders  of  the  Vatican  ;  but  Poland  was  in¬ 
different  to  its  censures.  In  conflicts  between 
the  secular  and  ecclesiastical  powers,  the  latter 
were  often  defeated.  There  was  a  sturdy, 
national  spirit  in  Poland  ;  and  their  historians, 
1  Littell's  Living  Age ,  1879. 


MISSION  WORK  AMONG  THE  ROLES 


9 


some  of  them  zealous  Romish  priests,  confess 
that  worship  in  the  national  language  was  ex¬ 
tant  until  the  sixteenth  century. 

With  Casimir  the  Great,  the  Piast  dynasty 
ended  in  the  fourteenth  century.  The  beauti¬ 
ful  and  beloved  Queen  Hedwig,  his  daughter, 
married  Jagello,  Duke  of  Lithuania,  who 
was  baptized,  and  introduced  Christianity 
among  his  heathen  subjects.  For  two  cen¬ 
turies,  the  most  prosperous  period  of  Polish 
history,  the  crown  was  hereditary  in  Lithuania 
and  elective  in  Poland  ;  but  a  Jagellon  was 
always  elected.  Under  the  Jagellon  kings, 
“  the  mass  of  the  peasantry  are  to  be  conceived 
of  as  living  in  their  dirty  villages,  ignorant 
and  boorish.  The  nobles,  on  the  other  hand, 
are  spoken  of  as  a  singularly  handsome, 
sprightly,  intelligent  and  polite  race,  generally 
well  accomplished  and  with  an  extreme  facil¬ 
ity  in  learning  foreign  languages  and  habits ; 
the  women  animated,  clever  and  more  beauti¬ 
ful  than  the  women  of  any  other  continental 
country.  The  bravery  of  the  Poles,  and  their 
military  excellence  in  every  respect,  were  then 
as  now,  universally  admitted;  and  whatever 
modern  theorists  of  a  certain  class  may  say, 
there  is  no  better  test  of  a  nation’s  stuff  and 
substance  than  how  it  will  fight.  In  the  fif- 


10  MISSION  WORK  AMONG  THE  POLES 

teenth  and  sixteenth  centuries,  the  political 
suffrage  was  more  extended  there  than  in  any 
other  country  in  Europe.  In  1500,  Poland 
with  fifteen  millions  had  four  hundred  and 
eighty  thousand  voters.  In  France,  in  the 
last  year  of  Louis  Philippe  there  were  only 
one  hundred  and  eighty  thousand  in  thirty- 
five  millions.  In  no  country  of  the  world  was 
the  constitution  so  republican,  and  at  the  same 
time  so  efficacious  in  action ;  in  none  was  the 
central  authority  so  respectable,  resting  on 
a  basis  so  broad  and  popular.  Sigismund  the 
Third  at  one  Diet  was  reminded  that  he  was 
ruling  over  a  nation  of  free  nobles,  having  no 
equals  under  heaven.” 1 

There  was  a  Slavic  Deformation  a  hundred 
years  before  Luther’s  conversion.  Andreas 
Galka  Dobszvn,  who  received  the  degree  of 
M.  A.  from  the  University  of  Cracow  ex¬ 
pounded  the  works  of  Wyclif  and  wrote  a 
hymn  in  honor  of  the  English  reformer.  “  Ye 
Poles,  Germans  and  all  nations!  Wyclif 
speaks  the  truth  !  Whoever  wishes  to  know 
himself,  let  him  approach  Wyclif;  whoever 
will  enter  the  ways  which  he  has  pointed  out 
will  never  leave  them,  and  never  will  err. 
Truth  is  the  heritage  of  Christ.  The  priests 

1  Westminster  Review,  63  :  130. 


MISSION  WORK  AMONG  THE  POLES 


11 


have  hidden  the  truth  ;  they  are  afraid  of  it, 
and  they  deceive  the  people  with  fables.  O 
Christ !  For  the  sake  of  thy  wounds,  send  us 
such  priests  as  may  guide  us  toward  the  truth 
and  may  bury  the  antichrist.’’ 

John  Huss  of  Bohemia  read  with  delight 
the  writings  of  Wyclif,  the  “morning  star 
of  the  Reformation.”  When  the  quarrel  arose 
between  the  Germans  and  Bohemians  in  the 
University  of  Prague,  Huss  became  the  leader 
of  his  countrymen.  The  Germans,  who  em¬ 
braced  in  their  party  all  the  foreigners  at  the 
University,  had  three  votes,  while  the  native 
Bohemians  had  only  one,  at  all  their  elections. 
Thus  Germans  disposed  of  University  honors. 
Huss  pleaded  for  home  rule,  and  has  endeared 
his  name  even  among  Bohemians  who  do  not 
accept  his  religious  views.  He  urged  that  the 
custom  be  reversed,  and  that  three  votes  be 
given  to  the  national  party,  and  one  to  the 
Germans,  according  to  the  practice  of  the 
Universities  of  Bologna  and  Paris,  which  were 
called  the  mothers  of  Prague.  The  monarch 
granted  this  demand  October  5th,  1409  ;  where¬ 
upon  the  Germans  seceded  and  founded  the 
Bhuiversity  of  Leipsic,  which  thus  indirectly 
perpetuates  the  memory  of  the  Bohemian  re 
former.  After  the  departure  of  the  Germans, 


12  MISSION  WORK  AMONG  THE  POLES 

Huss  was  elected  rector  of  the  University. 
Krasinski  writes  that  “  the  national  party 
eagerly  embraced  the  religious  doctrines  of  its 
leader,  the  anti-Eomanist  feeling  being  blended 
with  the  anti-German.  Poland  was  intimately 
connected  with  Bohemia;  the  languages  of 
both  countries  were  then  almost  the  same. 
The  youths  of  Poland  generally  resorted  for 
their  education  to  the  University  of  Prague, 
where  a  college  for  them  was  founded  by 
Queen  Hedwig.  One  of  the  first  martyrs  of 
IIuss’s  Beformation  was  a  Pole.”  At  Prague 
in  1411,  two  Bohemians  and  a  Pole,  Stanislaw 
Paszek,  a  shoemaker  by  trade,  denounced  as 
false  the  doctrine  of  indulgences.  Their  lives 
were  sacrificed  for  their  zeal,  and  Huss 
preached  a  sermon  at  their  burial.  Huss  was 
greatly  esteemed  in  Poland,  and  all  the  Poles 
at  the  Council  of  Constance  united  with  their 
Bohemian  brethren  in  the  effort  to  save  him 
from  a  martyr’s  death. 

Poles  assisted  Hussites  in  their  wars,  but 
the  Beformation  of  Huss  did  not  triumph  in 
Poland.  Had  it  done  so,  it  might  have  spread 
among  all  the  Slavonic  nations.  Krasinski 
accounts  for  the  failure  partly  by  the  unfavor¬ 
able  effects  of  dissensions  among  the  Hussites, 
and  partly  because  the  patriotic  motives  which 


MISSION  WORK  AMONG  THE  POLES 


13 


stimulated  Bohemians  in  contending  against 
Germans,  were  lacking  in  Poland,  where  no 
such  conflict  took  place.  Froude  remarks:1 
“  The  Bohemians  had  avenged  the  murders  of 
John  IIuss  and  Jerome  of  Prague  on  eleven 
bloody  fields ;  but  they  had  been  crushed,  and 
there  remained  only  Jean  Ziska’s  skin  which 
he  bequeathed  to  his  country  to  be  stretched 
on  a  drum,  and  so  keep  alive  the  echoes  of  the 
eternal  battle  music.”  Nevertheless,  Pome 
was  fast  losing  her  hold  upon  the  minds  of  the 
people  in  the  fifteenth  century. 

The  conflicts  between  Slav  and  Teuton  in 
the  Austro-Hungarian  Empire  during  the 
closing  years  of  the  nineteenth  century  have 
threatened  the  balance  of  power  in  Europe. 
The  gospel  which  unites  Jew  and  Gentile, 
barbarian  and  Scythian,  in  Christ,  cures  such 
national  feuds.  The  Slavic  Keformation  pre¬ 
pared  the  way  for  that  of  the  German  Luther  ; 
and  Luther’s  doctrines  in  turn  were  preached 
in  Bohemia  and  Poland.  “John  ILuss,”  said 
Luther,  “has  weeded  the  vineyard  of  Christ 
from  many  thorns.  He  has  condemned  the 
scandal  of  the  apostolical  see.  I  have  found 
a  fertile  and  well-tilled  ground.”  Huss,  he 
said,  was  the  seed  which  must  die  and  be 

1  Council  of  Trent. 


14 


MISSION  WORK  AMONG  THE  POLES 


buried  in  order  that  it  might  germinate  and 
grow.  The  doctrines  of  Luther  were  dissem¬ 
inated  by  Polish  students  who  frequented 
Wittenberg.  In  Dantzic,  the  chief  town  of 
Polish  Prussia,  some  suffered  for  their  pro¬ 
fession  of  the  reformed  faith.  Sigismund  the 
First  (who  reigned  1508-1548),  was  opposed  to 
political  innovations,  but  was  praised  by 
Calvin  for  his  tolerance  of  religious  reform. 
Protestant  Bohemians  emigrated  to  Poland 
and  introduced  their  doctrines  into  various 
parts  of  the  kingdom.  Although  checked  by 
the  authorities  at  first,  the  Reformation  soon 
became  too  strong  to  be  suppressed.  One  of 
the  most  singular  events  in  the  history  of  the 
kingdom  occurred  during  the  reign  of  this 
sovereign,  and  shows  the  growing  power  of 
the  new  doctrines.  For  generations  the  cele¬ 
brated  order  of  the  Teutonic  Knights  had  been 
a  thorn  in  the  side  of  Poland,  and  various 
battles  had  tested  the  prowess  of  Pole  or 
Teuton.  King  Sigismund  the  First  waged 
war  with  them  and  was  victorious.  In  set¬ 
tling  the  terms  of  peace  in  1525,  the  Grand 
Master  of  the  order,  Albert  of  Brandenburg,  a 
descendant  of  the  Hohenzollern  family  who 
in  1411  possessed  themselves  of  the  marquisate 
of  Brandenburg,  proposed  that  their  order 


MISSION  WORK  AMONG  THE  POLES  15 

should  be  secularized.  He  and  other  knights 
married  wives  and  professed  Lutheranism. 
The  king  himself  took  part  in  the  stately  cere¬ 
monies  which  so  happily  terminated  this  long 
conflict.  This  is  said  to  have  been  the  first 
instance  of  secularization  in  history,  and  the 
first  diplomatic  recognition  of  Lutheranism  as 
an  established  religion. 

The  most  rapid  progress  of  the  Reformation 
in  this  realm  was  during  the  reign  of  this 
king’s  son  and  successor,  Sigismund  Augustus 
(2548-1572),  when  the  Protestant  churches 
were  established,  not  as  tolerated,  but  as 
legally  acknowledged  communities.  The  Vis¬ 
tula  is  the  great  river  of  Poland,  and  it 
seemed  about  to  become  a  Protestant  stream. 
Its  towns,  like  Cracow,  Sendomir,  Thorn,  and 
Dantzic,  saw  Protestant  assemblies.  “  In  the 
sixteenth  century  Poland  was  the  most  tol¬ 
erant  country  in  Europe.  The  only  protest 
made  by  any  nation  against  the  revocation 
of  the  Edict  of  Nantes  and  the  massacre  of 
St.  Bartholomew  came  from  Poland.”1  The 
celebrated  Jesuit  Skarga  complained  that  two 
thousand  Romanist  churches  were  converted 
into  Protestant  ones.  Calvin’s  disciples  mul¬ 
tiplied  among  the  people,  the  nobility,  and  in 

1  Westminster  Review ,  80  :  180. 


16 


MISSION  WORK  AMONG  THE  POLES 


the  University  of  Cracow ;  and  his  eagle  eye 
saw  the  importance  of  gaining  that  kingdom 
for  the  gospel. 

The  dedication  of  a  book  was  a  more  serious 
matter  in  those  times  than  now.  Luther  dedi¬ 
cated  an  edition  of  his  German  Bible  to  Sigis- 
mund  Augustus.  In  1549  this  king  accepted 
from  Calvin  the  dedication  of  his  commentary 
on  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  in  which  he 
says : — 

“  Your  kingdom  is  extensive  and  renowned, 
and  abounds  in  many  excellences ;  but  its  hap¬ 
piness  will  then  only  be  solid  when  it  adopts 
Christ  as  its  chief  ruler  and  governor,  so  that 
it  may  be  defended  by  his  safeguard  and  pro¬ 
tection  ;  for  to  submit  your  scepter  to  him  is 
not  inconsistent  with  that  elevation  in  which 
you  are  placed,  but  it  would  be  far  more  glori¬ 
ous  than  all  the  triumphs  of  the  world.  Un¬ 
dertake  then,  I  pray,  O  magnanimous  King, 
under  the  auspicious  banner  of  Christ,  a  work 
so  worthy  of  your  royal  elevation,  as  well  as 
of  your  heroic  virtue,  so  that  the  eternal  truth 
of  God,  by  which  his  own  glory  and  the  salva¬ 
tion  of  men  are  promoted,  may,  wherever  thy 
kingdom  spreads,  recover  its  own  authority, 
which  has  been  taken  away  by  the  fraudulent 
dealings  of  antichrist.  It  is  truly  an  arduous 


MISSION  WORK  AMONG  THE  POLES 


17 


work,  and  of  such  magnitude  as  is  sufficient  to 
fill  even  the  wisest  with  solicitude  and  fear. 
As  it  is  the  peculiar  work  of  God,  we  ought 
not  in  this  case  to  regard  the  extent  of  human 
powers  as  the  glory  due  to  his  power ;  so 
that  relying  on  that  not  only  to  help  us  but 
also  to  guide  us,  we  may  venture  on  things 
far  beyond  our  own  strength.  For  the  work 
of  restoring  and  establishing  the  Church  is  not 
without  reason  everywhere  assigned  in  Scrip¬ 
ture  to  God.  The  Lord  who  has  himself  as  it 
Avere  by  his  own  hand  laid  the  foundations  of 
the  Church  will  not  suffer  it  to  remain  in  a 
decayed  state,  for  he  is  represented  as  solici¬ 
tous  to  restore  it  and  to  repair  its  ruins ;  for 
by  speaking  thus,  he  in  effect  promises  that  he 
will  never  fail  us  when  engaged  in  this  work. 
As  he  would  not  have  us  sit  down  as  idle 
spectators  of  his  power,  so  the  presence  of  his 
aid  in  sustaining  the  hands  which  labor,  clearly 
proves  that  he  himself  is  the  chief  architect. 
This  one  thing  is  abundantly  sufficient,  that 
we  have  such  an  invincible  Leader,  that  the 
more  he  is  assailed,  the  greater  will  be  the  vic¬ 
tories  and  the  triumphs  gained  by  his  power. 
Farewell,  invincible  King.  May  the  Lord  Jesus 
rule  you  by  the  spirit  of  wisdom,  sustain  you 
by  the  spirit  of  valor,  bestow  on  you  all  kinds 


18 


MISSION  WORK  AMONG  THE  POLES 


of  blessings,  long  preserve  your  Majesty  in 
health  and  prosperity,  and  protect  your  king¬ 
dom.  Amen.” 

Later,  in  1554  he  wrote :  “  When  Christ 
wishes  even  his  humblest  disciples  to  be  like 
lamps  suspended  in  a  lofty  place,  that  send 
out  their  light  to  a  distance,  what  does  he  re¬ 
quire  of  a  king,  whom  he  has  placed  at  the 
summit  of  human  dignity,  that  he  might  shine 
before  all  others  ?  Remember  then,  most  ex¬ 
cellent  King,  that  a  light  has  been  divinely 
kindled  up  for  the  whole  of  Poland,  which 
cannot  be  kept  hidden  any  longer  without 
your  incurring  serious  blame.  When  the  battle 
that  is  to  be  fought  here  is  for  the  glory  of 
God  in  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  for  the  purity 
of  religious  worship,  for  the  salvation  of  the 
human  race,  such  is  the  excellence  of  the  cause 
that  it  should  absorb  all  vexations  in  its  glory, 
and  easily  surmount  all  obstacles.  When  God 
asserts  that  it  is  his  own  work  to  restore  his 
ruined  Church,  of  which  he  is  the  only  founder, 
we  may  conclude  with  certainty  that  he  will 
by  no  means  desert  us  in  the  moment  of  need. 
Because  the  enemies  of  sound  doctrine  will 
strive  with  all  their  might  to  shut  the  door 
against  pious  and  sincere  teachers,  it  would  be 
necessary  that  a  helping  hand  should  be  held 


MISSION  WORK  AMONG  THE  POLES 

out  to  them  by  your  Majesty,  in  order  that 
without  any  restraint  they  may  turn  the  peo¬ 
ple  away  from  the  errors  of  superstition  to  the 

straight  path  of  piety.” 

Nicholas  Radziwill,  one  of  the  most  distin¬ 
guished  nobles  of  Poland,  the  friend  and  con¬ 
fidant  of  King  Sigismund  Augustus,  in  1553 
publicly  adopted  the  Reformed  doctrines,  and 
caused  to  be  translated  and  printed  at  his  own 
expense  the  first  Protestant  Bible  in  Poland. 
In  1555  Calvin  wrote  to  him  :  “  It  is  my  wish 

that  the  kingdom  of  Christ  should  flourish 
everywhere,  yet  at  the  present  moment  Poland 
deservedly  occupies  my  thoughts  with  a  very 
special  anxiety.  For  from  the  time  that  the 
light  of  a  purer  doctrine  began  to  shine  upon 
it,  this  happy  beginning  has  at  the  same  time 
inflamed  my  desire  with  the  hopes  of  a  better 
progress.  Unquestionably  you  see  that  it  is 
a  work  of  immense  difficulty  to  establish  the 
heavenly  reign  of  God  upon  earth.  You  see 
with  what  indifference  that  cause  is  treated, 
which  ought  not  only  to  occupy  the  chief 
place  among  our  cares,  but  even  absorb  all  our 
thoughts.” 

Again  he  writes  to  the  King :  u  Since  in 
Poland  true  religion  has  already  begun  to 
dawn,  since  many  pious  and  wise  men  volun- 


20 


MISSION  WORK  AMONG  THE  POLES 


tardy  aspire  after  the  pure  worship  of  God,  I, 
whom  the  King  of  kings  has  appointed  a 
preacher  of  his  gospel  and  a  minister  of  his 
Church,  call  upon  your  Majesty  in  his  name  to 
make  this  work  above  all  others  your  especial 
care.  Your  Majesty  has  far  less  difficulty  to 
struggle  with  than  Hezekiah  and  Josiah,  who 
had  an  arduous  and  severe  contest  with  the 
contumacy  of  their  people ;  whereas  in  our 
days  the  greater  part  of  the  Polish  nobility 
shows  a  prompt  and  cheerful  disposition  to 
embrace  the  faith  of  Christ.” 

Polish  nobles  desired  Calvin  to  establish 
their  Reformation  in  person;  but  he  recom¬ 
mended  the  Polish  noble  and  reformer  John  a 
Lasco  or  Laski  in  his  stead.  During  that 
century  there  were  many  eminent  representa¬ 
tives  of  this  family  in  the  Church,  the  council, 
and  the  camp.  John  Laski,  or  a  Lasco,  was 
born  in  1499,  and  was  educated  for  the  priest¬ 
hood.  His  travels  in  Germany,  Italy,  France, 
and  Belgium,  introduced  him  to  many  famous 
scholars  of  the  day.  In  1524  Zwingli  sowed 
the  first  doubt  in  his  mind  as  to  the  orthodoxy 
of  the  Roman  Church.  The  year  1525  he 
spent  with  Erasmus,  who  had  a  regard  for 
him  bordering  on  enthusiasm.  D’Aubigne, 
speaking  of  Erasmus  as  the  greatest  critic  of 


MISSION  WORK  AMONG  THE  POLES 


21 


the  age,  quotes  his  praises :  “  A  glorious 
ancestry,  high  rank,  prospects  the  most  bril¬ 
liant,  a  mind  of  wonderful  richness,  uncom¬ 
mon  extent  of  knowledge,  and  with  all  this 
there  is  about  him  not  the  faintest  taint  of 
pride.  The  sweetness  of  his  disposition  puts 
him  in  harmony  with  everyone.  His  morals 
are  pure  as  the  snow.  He  has  all  the  brilliancy 
of  gems  and  gold.  He  has  manners  so  easy, 
so  open  and  so  cordial  that  his  company  day 
by  day  makes  me  young  again.”  This  friend¬ 
ship  Laski  repaid  with  the  liberality  of  a 
Polish  grandee.  He  purchased  the  library  of 
Erasmus,  but  left  to  him  its  use  during  his 
lifetime.  He  returned  to  his  native  land  in 
1526,  and  might  have  obtained  the  first 
dignities  of  the  Polish  Church,  for  his  uncle 
was  the  primate  of  the  kingdom  and  he 
seemed  destined  to  be  his  successor.  By  his 
marriage,  after  his  profession  of  the  Reformed 
faith,  he  sacrificed  these  splendid  prospects  of 
preferment.  Protestant  princes  sought  his  aid 
in  advancing  the  Reformation.  He  may  be 
considered  as  the  real  founder  of  the  Protestant 
Church  in  Friesland,  as  in  1543  he  was  nomi¬ 
nated  superintendent  of  all  the  churches,  and 
labored  there  with  zeal  for  six  years.  By 
invitation  of  Archbishop  Cranmer  he  went  to 


22 


MISSION  WORK  AMONG  THE  POLES 


England  in  1548  to  assist  in  the  reformation  of 

O 

the  English  Church,  and  spent  six  months 
with  him  at  Lambeth.  Latimer  highly  praised 
him  in  a  sermon  before  King  Edward  the 
Sixth  ;  and  King  Edward  in  a  letter  to  Sigis- 
mund  Augustus  described  Laski  as  a  man 
gifted  with  eminent  qualities  and  possessing 
extensive  information.  After  another  visit  to 
Germany  we  find  him  in  England  in  1550.  If 
an  Anglo-Saxon  asks  whether  a  Pole  can  be 
converted,  it  may  suffice  to  point  to  this 
Polish  noble  who  was  chosen  as  one  of  eight 
divines  who  formed  in  1551  a  commission 
for  the  reformation  of  English  ecclesias¬ 
tical  law.  He  was  nominated  the  superin¬ 
tendent  of  the  foreign  Protestant  congrega¬ 
tion  established  in  London,  composed  of 
French,  Germans  and  Italians,  who  found 
both  asylum  and  liberal  support  from  the 
English  Government.  Upon  the  accession  of 
Queen  Mary  to  the  throne,  John  Laski  left 
England,  and  after  sojourning  in  Friesland 
and  Frankfort-on-the-Main,  where  he  estab¬ 
lished  a  church  for  the  Belgian  Protestant 
refugees,  he  returned  in  1556  to  his  native 
land.  He  had  previously  published  an  account 
of  the  foreign  churches  that  he  had  superin¬ 
tended,  and  explained  his  views  about  the 


MISSION  WORK  AMONG  THE  POLES 


23 


necessity  for  a  reformation  in  Poland.  He 
became  superintendent  of  all  the  Reformed 
churches  in  Little  Poland,  soon  after  his 
return.  He  labored  to  promote  a  union  of  the 
Protestant  denominations;  and  organized  a 
hundred  and  twenty-two  churches  in  Little 
Poland.  To  Calvin  he  reports  :  “  I  am  now, 

my  Calvin,  so  overwhelmed  with  cares  and 
business  that  I  cannot  write.  On  the  one 
hand  enemies,  on  the  other  false  friends,  assail 
us,  so  that  there  is  no  rest.  Farewell.  Send 
greetings  most  cordially  to  all  brethren  in  the 
Lord.”  He  died  in  1560,  was  buried  with 
honors,  and  his  death  was  a  great  loss  to  the 
Reformation.  At  Basel  he  had  studied  di¬ 
vinity  with  CEcolampadius  and  Hebrew  with 
Pellican.  He  visited  Bucer  at  Cambridge. 
His  influence  was  great  in  the  court  of 
Edward  the  Sixth,  and  can  be  traced  in  the 
second  prayer  book,  and  in  the  views  of  Cran- 
mer  and  Hooper.  His  catechism  at  Embden 
in  Friesland  was  partly  the  basis  for  the 
Heidelberg  Catechism.  He  wrote  what  was 
virtually  the  first  confession  of  the  Nether¬ 
lands  Reformed  Church.  Rev.  Dr.  A.  Kuyper 
of  Holland  has  done  good  service  to  the  Church 
in  publishing  the  works  of  this  reformer. 
D’Aubigne  thus  estimates  him :  “  A  Lasco 


24  MISSION  WORK  AMONG  THE  POLES 

does  not  stand  in  the  first  rank  of  the  men  of 
the  Reformation.  But  in  one  respect  lie  sur¬ 
passed  them  all,  and  this  by  reason  of  the 
state  of  life  in  which  it  pleased  God  that  he 
should  be  born.  He  knew  better  than  anyone 
what  it  was  to  sacrifice  for  Jesus  Christ  the 
world  with  its  dignities  and  its  favors,  and  he 
did  this  with  a  noble  courage.  Ho  sooner  was 
the  bandage,  placed  over  his  eyes,  removed, 
than  he  felt  abhorrence  of  bondage.  He  be¬ 
came  one  of  the  most  beautiful  examples  of 
moral  freedom  in  the  sixteenth  century.” 

John  Laski  did  not  labor  in  vain  for  the 
union  of  Protestants  in  Poland.  The  Bohe¬ 
mian  Brethren,  sometimes  called  Waldenses, 
driven  from  their  country  in  1548  emigrated 
to  Poland,  where  they  formed  forty  congrega¬ 
tions.  At  the  first  general  Protestant  synod, 
held  at  Kosminek,  1555,  a  union  was  effected 
between  them  and  the  Reformed  or  Calvinistic 
churches.  Calvin  wrote  to  a  Polish  nobleman, 
Stanislaus  Krasinski :  “  From  a  union  with  the 
Waldenses  [or  Brethren]  I  hope  the  best,  not 
only  because  God  blesses  every  act  of  a  holy 
union  of  the  members  of  Christ,  but  also  be¬ 
cause  at  the  present  crisis  the  experience  of  the 
Waldenses,  who  are  so  well  drilled  in  the  service 
of  the  Lord,  will  be  of  no  small  benefit  to  you.” 


MISSION  WORK  AMONG  TIIE  POLES 


25 


In  the  year  1569  occurred  a  notable  event, — 
the  formal  union  of  Poland  and  Lithuania  at 
the  Diet  of  Lublin.  The  principal  noblemen 
of  the  three  Protestant  communions  of  Poland, 
assembled  at  that  Diet,  resolved  to  promote  a 
union  of  their  respective  denominations,  hoping 
that  Sigismund  Augustus,  who  had  often 
wished  for  such  a  union,  would  at  last  be  in¬ 
duced  to  embrace  Protestantism.  They  were 
the  more  impelled  to  this  by  the  death  of 
their  leaders,  Laski  and  Prince  Radziwill. 
Krasinski  narrates  that  at  this  Diet  the  King 
gave  a  sort  of  recognition  to  Protestantism 
by  attending  the  funeral  of  a  Protestant,  (with 
all  his  court,  senate,  and  foreign  ministers) 
the  Grand  General  of  the  Crown,  Sieniaw- 
ski,  who  died  at  the  advanced  age  of  eighty- 
one.  At  Sendomir,  in  1570,  a  synod  adopted 
the  Consensus  Sendomiriensis ,  “  the  only  im¬ 
portant  confessional  document  of  the  evangel¬ 
ical  churches  in  Poland.”  1  It  deserves  remem¬ 
brance  :  “  An  Act  of  religious  union  between 
the  churches  of  Grand  and  Little  Poland,  Rus¬ 
sia,  Lithuania,  and  Samogitia,  which  had  hith¬ 
erto  appeared  to  differ  from  each  other  in  re¬ 
spect  to  the  confessions  of  Augsburg,  Bohemia, 
and  Switzerland,  concluded  at  the  Synod  of 

1  Schaft . 


26 


MISSION  WORK  AMONG  THE  POLES 


Sendomir,  April  14th,  1570.  The  Reformed 
orthodox  churches  of  Poland  have  resolved 
from  love  of  peace  and  concord  to  convoke  a 
synod,  and  to  bear  witness  to  a  complete 
unanimity  among  themselves.  We  have  there¬ 
fore  held  a  friendly  and  Christian  conference, 
and  agreed  with  united  hearts  as  to  the  follow¬ 
ing  points  :  ”  here  follow  statements  concern¬ 
ing  the  doctrines  of  God,  the  Holy  Trinity, 
the  Incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God,  justification, 
and  other  fundamental  articles ;  also  more  de¬ 
tails  concerning  the  Lord’s  Supper,  with  a  long- 
extract  from  the  Saxon  Confession  which 
Melancthon  prepared  in  1551  for  the  Council 
of  Trent.  They  add  their  pledges  :  “We  will 
at  the  same  time  abolish  and  bury  in  eternal 
oblivion  all  the  contentions,  troubles,  and  dis¬ 
sensions,  which  have  hitherto  impeded  the 
progress  of  the  gospel,  not  without  great 
offense  to  many  pious  souls,  and  which  have 
afforded  to  our  enemies  opportunities  for  ca¬ 
lumniating  us,  and  for  attacking  our  true  Chris¬ 
tian  religion  ;  but  on  the  contrary,  we  will 
oblige  ourselves  to  maintain  peace  and  tran¬ 
quillity,  to  live  in  mutual  love,  and  conjointly 
promote,  in  accordance  with  this  our  brotherly 
union,  the  edification  of  the  Church-, — main¬ 
taining,  however,  the  order  of  discipline  as 


MISSION  WORK  AMONG  THE  POLES 


27 


wTell  as  the  rites  of  every  church,  as  the  pres- 
ent  union  leaves  free  to  every  church  its  rites 
and  ceremonies ;  because  it  is  of  little  im¬ 
portance  what  rites  are  observed,  provided  the 
doctrine  itself,  and  the  foundation  of  our  faith 
and  salvation,  remain  pure  and  unadulterated. 
After  having  mutually  given  each  other  our 
hands,  we  have  made  a  sacred  promise  faith¬ 
fully  to  maintain  peace  and  faith,  and  to  pro¬ 
mote  it  every  day  more  and  more  for  the  edi¬ 
fication  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  carefully 
to  avoid  all  occasions  of  dissension.  Finally, 
we  do  oblige  ourselves  not  to  seek  our  own  in¬ 
terest,  but,  as  it  becomes  the  true  servants  of 
God,  to  seek  only  the  glory  of  our  Saviour 
Jesus  Christ,  and  to  spread  the  truth  of  his 
gospel  by  words  and  deeds.  And  that  it  may 
last  forever  prosperously,  firm,  and  without 
infraction,  we  ardently  pray  to  God  the  Father, 
who  is  the  Author  and  abundant  Source  of  all 
comfort  and  peace,  who  has  snatched  us  and 
our  churches  from  the  dense  darkness  of  popery, 
and  gifted  them  with  the  light  of  his  pure 
word  and  holy  truth,  that  he  should  bless  this 
our  holy  peace,  concord,  union  and  covenant,  to 
the  glory  of  his  name  and  edification  of  his 
Church.  Amen.” 

“  A  few  weeks  afterwards,”  says  Schaff,  “a 


28 


MISSION  WORK  AMONG  THE  POLES 


synodical  meeting  w.as  held  at  Posen  in  the 
same  spirit  of  union,  and  twenty  brief  articles 
were  adopted  for  the  purpose  of  confirming 
and  preserving  the  Consensus.  When  the  peo¬ 
ple  who  stood  outside  of  the  house  where  the 
meeting  was  held,  heard  the  happy  conclusion, 
they  joined  in  the  singing  of  the  Te  Deum , 
with  tears  of  joy  and  gratitude  to  God.  The 
Consensus  was  again  confirmed  by  the  general 
synods  at  Cracow,  1573  ;  Petricow,  1578  ;  Vlad¬ 
islav,  1583  ;  and  Thorn,  1595.  This  last  was 
the  largest  synod  ever  held  in  Poland.” 

In  Poland,  as  elsewhere,  literature  and  edu¬ 
cation  were  fostered  by  the  gospel.  The  first 
national  poet,  Key,  was  a  Protestant ;  and  so 
was  Bielski,  the  first  historian  who  used  the 
vernacular  tongue.  In  half  a  century  Poland 
was  placed  on  a  par  with  the  most  enlightened 
nations  of  Europe.  Protestants  gave  the  Bible 
to  this  nation,  as  they  have  done  to  all  the 
modern  world.  Christopher  Radziwill,  a  de¬ 
scendant  of  the  nobleman  who  published  the 
first  Protestant  Bible  in  Poland,  dedicated 
another  edition  of  it  to  his  sovereign,  Vladi¬ 
slav  the  Fourth,  with  these  words  : — 

“  Sire, — As  this  book  of  Holy  Scripture 
which  was  published  sixty-nine  years  ago 
(1563)  adorned  with  the  name  of  your  royal 


MISSION  WORK  AMONG  THE  POLES 


29 


Majesty’s  predecessor,  King  Sigismund  Augus¬ 
tus,  of  immortal  memory,  was  printed  a  second 
time  during  the  election  of  your  royal  Majesty, 
it  seemed  to  be  just  that  it  should  be  also  now 
presented  in  this  new  garment,  to  the  world, 
under  the  royal  name.  For  as  our  Protestant 
ancestors  were  inspired  with  such  veneration 
for  King  Sigismund  Augustus  of  sacred  mem¬ 
ory,  that  they  presented  in  homage  to  his 
earthly  throne  that  which  they  taught  and  be¬ 
lieved  concerning  the  majesty  of  Heaven,  thus 
also  we,  having  elected  by  our  free  votes  your 
royal  Majesty  for  our  lord  and  master,  thought 
it  our  duty  to  offer  a  similar  expression  of  our 
affection  toward  your  royal  Majesty,  as  the 
successor  not  only  of  the  crown,  but  also  of 
the  virtues,  of  Sigismund  Augustus,  and  par¬ 
ticularly  of  his  attachment  to  our  nation  and 
its  liberties.  And,  as  our  ancestors  were  not 
ashamed  to  stand  up  with  this  book  before  the 
monarchs  and  potentates  of  this  world,  it  be¬ 
hooves  us  also  to  declare  that  not  only  are  we 
not  ashamed  of  this  reprint  of  the  Bible,  but 
that  we  are  ready  to  appear  before  the 
anointed  of  the  Lord  and  render  an  account  of 
our  faith,  not  from  any  human  doctrines  and 
traditions,  but  from  the  Scriptures,  inspired  bv 
the  Holy  Ghost.  And  as  my  ancestor  Itadzi- 


30 


MISSION  WORK  AMONG  THE  POLES 


will,  in  his  dedication  of  the  Bible  to  King 
Sigismund  Augustus,  took  God  for  witness, 
that  he  could  not  give  any  stronger  expression 
of  respect  to  his  master,  and  sincerely  wished, 
on  the  same  occasion,  to  the  King  every  kind 
of  eternal  and  temporal  happiness,  thus  I, 
having  received  this  Bible  from  our  pious 
teachers,  who  have  carefully  superintended 
this  edition,  take  God,  the  Searcher  of  hearts, 
for  witness,  that  it  is  not  for  vain  ceremony  s 
sake,  but  as  a  sign  of  my  true  allegiance  and 
devotion  that  I  offer  this  present,  which  I  con¬ 
sider  the  most  precious  thing  in  the  world,  and 
which  I  value  above  my  fortune,  yea,  and  my 

pfe  ! _ doing  it  in  my  own  name  as  well  as  in 

that  of  all  the  Protestant  congregations  of 
Poland  and  Lithuania,  with  whom  we  shall  all 
ever  pray  for  a  long  and  happy  reign  to  your 
Majesty. 

“  Although  I  do  not  admit  that  anyone 
having  a  true  Polish  heart  would  be  so  forget¬ 
ful  of  the  country’s  laws  and  the  times  in 
which  we  live,  as  to  venture  on  calumniating 
to  your  royal  Majesty  this  our  sincere  present, 
as  well  as  our  Protestant  religion,  because 
there  are  neither  controversies  nor  allusions  in 
it  which  can  give  offense  to  anyone,  yet  it 
some  foreigner  should  act  in  such  a  manner. 


MISSION  WORK-  AMONG  THE  POLES 


31 


let  your  royal  Majesty  remember  that  when 
the  Kin  or  of  kin  gs  shall  call  before  his  throne 

<D  O 

all  the  monarclis  of  the  world,  they  will  have 
to  render  an  account  of  their  worship  to  God 
and  of  the  people  intrusted  to  them  according 
to  this  statute  and  not  according  to  any  other  ; 
and  that  nobody  will  be  sheltered  there  by  the 
advice  of  others,  but  will  be  obliged  to  answer 
for  himself.” 

The  press  was  a  formidable  weapon  by  which 
the  Reformation  assailed  the  errors  of  Rome; 
and  it  gave  Luther  and  Calvin  a  surpassing 
advantage  over  Wyclif  and  IIuss.  Protes¬ 
tants  in  all  parts  of  Poland  established  print¬ 
ing  presses,  which  published  large  numbers  not 
only  of  religious  but  of  literary  and  scientific 
works.  Polish  Protestants  also  established 
schools,  one  of  which,  Lezno  or  Lissa,  in  the 
seventeenth  century  gained  a  European  repu¬ 
tation,  through  its  eminent  teacher,  John  Amos 
Comenius.  His  Janua  Linguo/rum  Reserata , 
or  Door  of  Languages  Unlocked,  was  trans¬ 
lated  into  twelve  European  and  three  Asiatic 
tongues.  The  governments  of  Sweden  and  of 
England  invited  him  to  reform  their  schools. 
In  Little  Poland,  the  Calvinists  had  fourteen 
higher  schools,  and  several  in  Lithuania,  chiefly 
established  by  the  Rad zi wills.  In  the  sixteenth 


32 


MISSION  WORK  AMONG  THE  POLES 


century,  the  elementary  schools,  mostly  Protes¬ 
tant,  are  said  to  have  numbered  fifteen  hun¬ 
dred.  “  The  effects  of  toleration  stimulated 
commerce  and  industry.  Many  foreigners 
sought  in  Poland  a  refuge  from  religious  per¬ 
secution.  Thus  Italian  congregations  existed 
at  Cracow,  Vilna,  and  Posnania,  as  also  did 
German,  French  and  Scotch,  by  whose  immi¬ 
gration,  the  towns  of  Poland  rapidly  increased 
in  population  and  wealth.”  1 

There  was  great  need  for  a  reformation  in 
Poland.  Modrzewski,  who  became  secretary 
to  Sigismund  Augustus,  explained  to  him  the 
necessity  for  reforming  the  Church.  “  What 
has  created  the  dissensions  in  the  Church? 
The  corruption  of  manners  and  discipline ; 
neglect  of  the  laws ;  and  perversion  of  doc¬ 
trines  and  ceremonies.  Those  who  have  pos¬ 
sessed  themselves  of  the  lucrative  dignities 
of  the  Church  have  engaged  in  unwmrthy 
occupations.  They  have  become  fond  of 
revels,  of  rich  dress,  precious  stones,  and  large 
retinues.  All  their  time  is  devoted  to  play 
and  hunting.  They  have  become  enamored  of 
comfort,  ease,  and  luxury.  What  is  now  the 
intellectual  authority  of  the  clergy  ?  The 
greatest  part  of  them  are  ignorant  of  the 

1  Krasinski. 


MISSION  WORK  AMONG  THE  POLES 


33 


Scriptures ;  some  are  given  up  to  atheism ; 
they  deride  everything  that  is  holy.  They 
have  ceased  to  believe  in  religion  ;  they  have 
rejected  doctrines  and  neglected  actions  pre¬ 
scribed  by  God.  They  have  appropriated  to 
themselves  villages,  towns,  castles,  tithes, 
enormous  incomes,  and  richly  endowed  states. 
They  have  founded  their  supremacy  upon 
money,  upon  worldly  connections  and  assist¬ 
ance,  and  upon  a  luxurious  life.  They  wish 
to  rule  only  by  force ;  and  in  order  to  main¬ 
tain  their  authority  they  have  elevated  their 
Church  contrary  to  the  precepts  of  Christ. 
But  no  religious  community  can  be  durable 
and  maintain  its  unity  if  its  doctrines  and 
actions  are  not  founded  upon  the  pure  word 
of  God.” 

The  Roman  Catholic  Synod  of  Lowicz  made 
some  remarkable  confessions :  “  The  beginning 
of  the  troubles  has  been  caused  by  the  care¬ 
lessness  of  the  parochial,  as  well  as  of  the 
higher,  clergy;  but  the  apostolical  see  has 
also  committed  many  errors ;  it  has  neglected 
the  dangers  and  remained  indifferent  to  them. 
The  inactivity  and  supineness  of  the  bishops 
have  increased  the  troubles  of  the  Church  and 
produced  the  greatest  injury  to  the  clergy. 
One  of  them  has  publicly  said  in  the  assembly 


34 


MISSION  WORK  AMONG  THE  POLES 


of  the  nobles,  ‘  Let  the  people  believe  what 
they  like,  provided  I  receive  ray  income.’ 
We  must  not  conceal  our  faults.  The  regular 
and  secular  clergy  are  infected  with  the  ut¬ 
most  profligacy  of  manners.  They  are  ad¬ 
dicted  to  luxury,  avarice,  debauchery,  idleness, 
carelessness;  and,  what  is  worse,  the  priests 
have  no  knowledge  of  the  law  of  God.” 

Pope  Paul  the  Fourth  sent  his  nuncio,  Lippo- 
mani  to  Poland,  in  1556.  The  King  had  sent  a 
letter  for  the  Pope  to  the  Council  of  Trent,  de¬ 
manding  that  mass  should  be  performed  in 
the  national  language  the  communion  in 
two  kinds,  the  marriage  of  priests,  the  abo¬ 
lition  of  the  Annates,  and  the  convocation  of 
a  national  council  for  the  reform  of  abuses. 
The  famous  convert,  Peter  Paul  Vergerio,  who 
had  himself  been  a  papal  nuncio  to  Germany, 
whose  pen  was  an  aid  to  the  Reformation, 
wrote  to  the  King,  of  Lippomani :  “  A  man  is 
now  entering  your  realm  who  will  destroy 
your  wise  and  salutary  designs ;  he  will  pre¬ 
vent  a  peaceful  reformation  of  the  Church  and 
will  disturb  the  kingdom.”  The  Pope  wrote 
to  the  King :  “  If  I  am  to  credit  the  reports 
that  reach  me,  I  must  feel  the  most  profound 
grief  and  even  doubt  of  your  and  your  realm’s 
salvation.  You  favor  heretics,  you  listen  to 


MISSION  WORK  AMONG  THE  POLES 


35 


their  conversations,  you  admit  them  to  your 
company  and  board,  you  receive  their  letters 
and  write  to  them.  You  suffer  their  works, 
sanctioned  with  your  name,  to  be  read  and 
circulated.  The  Palatine  of  Yilna,1  a  heretic, 
is  chancellor  of  Lithuania,  the  most  intimate 
friend  of  the  King,  in  private  and  in  public, 
and  may  be  considered  in  some  measure  as  the 
coregent  of  the  kingdom  and  the  second 
monarch.  John  Laski  and  Yergerius  have 
arrived  by  your  orders  in  this  country.  As 
our  letters,  embassies,  admonitions,  have  been 
without  effect  we  shall  have  recourse  to  the 
utmost  severity.”  Lippomani  entreated  the 
King  to  “  seize  arbitrarily  the  leaders  of  the 
Keformed  party,  and  to  execute  them  in  a 
summarv  manner,  because  the  Protestants 
being  deprived  of  their  heads  would  then 
have  been  easily  exterminated.” 2  This  con¬ 
versation  became  public,  and  raised  violent 
hatred  throughout  the  country  against  the 
legate.  The  Synod  of  Lowicz,  which  was  con¬ 
voked  by  Lippomani,  attempted  to  try  Luto- 
mirski,  rector  of  Konin,  for  heresy.  ILe  boldly 
appeared  with  influential  friends,  each  armed 
with  a  Bible  ;  and  the  synod  did  not  dare  to 
prosecute  him.  It  did  succeed,  however,  in  a 

1  Nicholas  Radzhvill.  2  Krasinski. 


36 


MISSION  WORK  AMONG  THE  POLES 


case  of  sacrilege.  Dorothy  Lazecka,  a  poor 
girl,  was  absurdly  accused  of  obtaining  the 
host  at  communion,  and  afterwards  selling  it 
to  Jews  who  pierced  it  with  needles,  and  ob¬ 
tained  some  blood  from  it.  The  Jews  and 
this  woman  were  condemned  to  be  burned  alive, 
the  King’s  exequatur  was  forged,  and  this 
sentence  was  executed  before  his  messenger 
could  prevent  it.  All  Poland  was  filled  with 
horror ;  and  Lippomani  left  the  country  fol¬ 
lowed  by  national  execrations. 

The  triumph  of  the  Reformation  seemed 
certain ;  but  though  it  advanced  rapidly  for 
fifty  years,  it  declined  as  rapidly  in  the  next 
half  century.  Religion  has  its  book  of  lamen¬ 
tations.  The  tolerant  and  accomplished  Sigis- 
mund  Augustus  showed  a  fatal  irresolution 
when  he  vacillated  between  the  counsels  of 
Calvin  and  the  threats  of  the  Pope.  For  two 
hundred  years  the  Jagellon  dynasty  had 
guided  the  affairs  of  the  kingdom.  This  mon¬ 
arch  was  the  seventh  and  last  of  his  line.  In 
two  centuries  more,  under  Swedish  and  Saxon 
dynasties,  “  after  a  career  of  degeneracy  al¬ 
most  unexampled  in  the  history  of  the 
world,”1  Poland  disappeared  from  the  map  of 
Europe.  The  free  election  of  its  kings  meant 

1  Westminster  Review,  63. 


MISSION  WORK  AMONG  THE  POLES  37 

the  offer  of  its  crown  in  the  markets  of 
Europe ;  and  it  was  generally  obtained  by  a 
foreigner. 

How  are  the  mighty  fallen !  And  wdiy 
Poland  ?  The  invasions  of  Turks,  Tartars,  and 
Swedes,  the  growth  and  greed  of  Austria, 
Prussia,  and  Pussia,  and  the  resentment  of  the 
two  last-named  powers  for  the  persecution  of 
Lutherans  or  Greek  Orthodox,  have  been  men¬ 
tioned  as  external  causes ;  and  for  internal 
ones,  the  lack  of  a  middle  class  and  of  sym¬ 
pathy  between  nobles  and  peasantry,  the  lack 
of  a  national  spirit  and  of  centralized  power 
like  that  which  developed  itself  in  other  Euro¬ 
pean  nations.  Yet  Isaiah  suggests  the  real 
reason  for  the  decline  of  this  kingdom,  whose 
history  illustrates  his  prophecy  :  “  The  nation 
and  kingdom  that  will  not  serve  thee  shall 
perish.”  It  is  aptly  remarked,  that  “  Prussia 
was  as  flat  and  incomparably  more  sterile  than 
Poland,  and  equally  exposed  to  the  ambition 
of  its  neighbors ;  but  it  steadily  increased  in 
territory  and  population.”  1  The  gospel,  the 
strongest  bond  between  noble  and  peasant,  the 
power  which  enlightens  and  uplifts  any  peas¬ 
antry,  was  stolen  from  this  kingdom  by  the 
Jesuits.  Calvin’s .  words  to  the  King  seem 

1  Blackwood ,  30  :  231. 


38 


MISSION  WORK  AMONG  THE  POLES 


prophetic :  “  If  the  opportunity  offered  by 
God  is  neglected,  you  may  afterwards  have  to 
stand  before  a  door  that  is  closed.” 

Poland  may  well  rue  the  day  when  Cardinal 
Hosius,  despairing  of  other  means  for  hinder¬ 
ing  the  gospel,  in  1564  sought  the  aid  of  the 
Jesuits.  They  are  the  most  learned  order  in 
the  Church  of  Rome,  and  have  been  a  curse  to 
mankind  wherever  they  have  gone.  “  Beware 
of  false  prophets,  which  come  to  you  in  sheep’s 
clothing,  but  inwardly  they  are  ravening 
wolves.”  The  questions  at  stake  between 
Jesuits  and  Reformers  may  seem  too  compli¬ 
cated  for  solution  by  ordinary  readers.  Yet  a 
wayfaring  man  though  a  fool  can  apply  the 
wise  maxim  of  Christ,  “  By  their  fruits  shall 
ye  know  them.”  The  Rev.  Dr.  Dalton  of  St. 
Petersburg  said,  in  1884,  to  the  Presbyterian 
Council  at  Belfast :  “  It  is  my  deepest  convic¬ 
tion,  as  the  result  of  long  years  of  study,  that 
Poland  has  been  strangled  by  the  Romish 
Church.  Had  that  noble  people  remained 
true  to  the  leading  of  John  a  Lasco,  then  to 
the  present  day  had  those  melancholy  words 
6 Finis  Polonioe ’  remained  unspoken.  If 
anyone  wishes  to  understand  what  the  auda¬ 
cious  man  of  Rome,  with  his  bodyguard  of 
Jesuits,  can  make  out  of  a  noble  country,  let 


MISSION  WORK  AMONG  TIIE  POLES 


39 


him  study  the  history  of  Poland  to  the  present 
day — the  history  of  a  people  that,  as  few  oth¬ 
ers,  offered  in  its  worldly  circumstances  so 
many  favorable  points  to  a  Presbyterian  de¬ 
velopment.” 

It  is  true,  indeed,  that  some  of  the  professed 
Protestants  of  Poland  must  bear  their  burden 
of  censure.  Professed  Protestants  in  the 
United  States  have  sometimes  thought  more 
of  their  personal  ambitions  than  of  their  reli¬ 
gion.  Those  who  love  religious  liberty  may 
learn  from  Polish  annals  not  to  trust  in  such 
leaders.  Some  Polish  churches  were  com¬ 
posed  almost  entirely  of  nobles  who  neglected 
the  evangelization  of  their  peasantry.  Lack 
of  missionary  zeal  is  always  a  sin,  and  in  this 
case  was  a  disastrous  mistake ;  according  to 
Krasinski,  it  was  the  principal  cause  for  the 
decline  of  Protestantism  in  his  country.  In 
1718  Little  Poland  had  only  eight  Reformed 
churches,  whereas  in  the  sixteenth  century  it 
had  a  hundred  and  twenty.  The  Princes 
Radziwill  were  instrumental  in  the  conversion 
of  thousands  of  their  peasantry  in  Samogitia, 
whose  descendants  preserved  their  religion  for 
generations,  and  contrasted  favorably  in  their 
morals  and  prosperity  with  their  Catholic 
neighbors.  IPad  all  Polish  nobles  imitated 


40 


MISSION  WORK  AMONG  THE  POLES 


this  example,  the  nation  might  have  been 
transformed  and  saved.  The  organization  oi 
the  Protestants  was  not  complete.  A  per¬ 
manent  committee  should  have  been  main¬ 
tained  in  the  capital  to  watch  over  their  in¬ 
terests  which  were  exposed  to  persistent 
Pomish  persecution.  The  three  political  divi¬ 
sions  of  the  country,  Grand  and  Little 
Poland  and  Lithuania,  were  independent  in 
their  ecclesiastical  establishments — meeting  in 
general  synods,  it  is  true,  in  times  of  emer¬ 
gency.  The  harmony  sought  by  the  Synod  of 
Sendomir  did  not  continue;  and  instances  of 
Lutheran  ill  will  toward  the  Bohemian  and 
Reformed  churches  mar  the  pages  of  Polish 
history.  The  compact  phalanx  of  the  Jesuits 
was  always  ready  to  profit  by  such  dissen¬ 
sions. 

The  Protestant  ranks  were  weakened  by  the 
lapse  of  some  into  Socinianism.  Faustus 
Socinus,  an  Italian  who  was  connected  by 
marriage  with  the  first  families  of  Poland,  de¬ 
veloped  the  Unitarian  opinions  of  his  day  into 
a  system.  The  number  of  his  adherents  in¬ 
creased  until  they  could  hold  synods  where 
eminent  men  were  present.  Calvin’s  sagacity 
detected  the  insincerity  of  Blandrata,  an  Ital¬ 
ian  Unitarian,  and  his  warnings  were  read  at 


MISSION  WORK  AMONG  THE  POLES 


41 


the  Synod  of  Cracow.  Rakow  was  the  Rome 
of  Socinianism,  its  fountain  head  for  Europe,  the 
“  Sarmatian  Athens,”  whose  school  once  had 
a  thousand  pupils,  and  whose  printing  press 
published  not  only  Socinian  but  literary 
and  scientific  works  as  well.  There  could  be 
no  union  between  Protestants  and  Socinians, 
then  or  since.  Through  Jesuit  influence, 
Socinians  were  persecuted  and  in  1658  ex¬ 
pelled  from  Poland.  Though  zealous,  their 
converts  were  never  numerous  and  were 
chiefly  from  the  upper  classes  of  society. 
They  created  dissensions  in  some  Reformed 
churches,  and  kept  many  in  the  Church  of 
Rome  who  inclined  toward  Protestantism. 
Many  such  became  indifferent  to  the  Scrip¬ 
tures,  and  adopted  the  easy,  deceitful  Romish 
tenet,  that  the  study  of  the  Bible  should  not 
be  permitted  to  all.  Unitarianisin  paralyzed 
some  Presbyterian  churches  of  Ireland  at  a 
more  recent  period,  but  in  that  land  of  Protes¬ 
tant  liberty,  the  breach  wras  repaired.  It  was 
a  misfortune  of  Polish  Protestants  that  every 
error  of  doctrine,  organization,  or  policy,  was 
sadly  avenged  by  the  Jesuits. 

Catharine  de’  Medici  had  a  son  who  was 
Charles  the  Ninth  of  France.  Coligni  sug¬ 
gested  to  her  the  advantage  of  securing  the 


42 


MISSION  WORK  AMONG  THE  TOLES 


throne  of  Poland  for  his  brother,  Henry  of 
Yalois,  Duke  of  Anjou,  and  Catharine  eagerly 
accepted  the  suggestion.  Such  a  combination 
of  kingdoms  might  have  changed  the  face 
of  Europe.  Polish  Protestants  cooperated 
with  Coligni  and  their  brethren  in  France  ; 
Polish  Catholics  had  no  objection  to  Henry, 
as  a  Catholic  prince  who  fought  Protestants 
at  the  battle  of  Jarnac.  The  French  ambas¬ 
sador  to  Poland,  Monti uc,  was  a  Roman  Cath¬ 
olic  bishop  in  name  only,  as  he  had  adopted 
the  Reformed  opinions. 

While  Montluc  was  on  his  way  to  Poland, 
he  learned  of  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew 
and  martyrdom  of  Coligni.  This  was  not 
only  a  crime  but  a  blunder.  Catharine  saw 
the  necessity  of  pursuing  Coligni’s  policy  ;  and 
Montluc  received  orders  to  continue  his  jour¬ 
ney.  Moreover,  his  instructions,  written  by 
Coligni,  remained  unaltered ;  a  striking  trib¬ 
ute  to  his  statesmanship.  The  Polish  Prot¬ 
estants  first  exacted  from  the  French  ambas¬ 
sadors  a  promise  of  amnesty  and  religious 
liberty  for  their  brethren  in  France,  after 
which  they  agreed  to  the  election  of  Henry. 
An  embassv  of  noblemen  was  sent  to  France 

t/ 

to  announce  the  election  of  Henry  and  to  take 
his  oath  to  uphold  religious  liberty  ;  and  they 


MISSION  WORK  AMONG  THE  POLES 


43 


made  a  great  impression  in  Paris  by  their 
learning  and  accomplishments.  In  his  royal 
progress  to  Poland,  Henry  was  feasted  at 
Heidelberg,  where  he  was  seated  opposite  a 
large  picture  which  delineated  the  horrors  of 
St.  Bartholomew  ;  and  his  attendants  were 
Huguenot  refugees.  In  the  ceremony  of  cor¬ 
onation,  Firley,  the  Protestant  Prime  Minister 
of  Poland,  observed  that  the  oath  taken  by 
Henry  at  Paris  was  omitted.  He  boldly 
seized  the  crown  and  told  him  that  he  could 
not  be  king  unless  he  took  this  oath.  “  Si  non 
jurabis ,  non  regnabis  .”  Dembinski,  Grand 
Chancellor  of  Poland,  also  a  Protestant,  stood 
by  him,  and  presented  the  scroll  containing  the 
oath  ;  and  through  their  firmness  the  King  was 
compelled  to  repeat  it.  In  four  months,  when 
he  heard  that  his  brother  Charles  the  Ninth 
had  died,  he  fled  secretly  to  France — a  ludi¬ 
crous  procedure  as  some  describe  it,  and  a 
o*ood  riddance  for  the  nation  that  he  had 

o 

scandalized  by  his  dissipation. 

Cardinal  Hosius  sent  congratulations  to 
Cardinal  Guise  for  the  murder  of  Coligni, 
which  news  “  had  filled  him  with  incredible 
joy  and  comfort.”  He  u  thanked  the  Almighty 
for  the  great  boon  conferred  on  France  by  the 
slaughter  of  St.  Bartholomew,  imploring  that 


44 


MISSION  WORK  AMONG  THE  POLES 


he  might  show  equal  mercy  to  Poland.”  The 
Protestant  leaders  had  been  alarmed  by  the 
treacherous  counsels  of  Hosius,  who  advised 
Henry  to  break  his  oath  to  protect  Protes¬ 
tants  ;  and  they  now  endeavored  to  elect  a 
Protestant  king.  Stephen  Bathori,  the  able 
Duke  of  Transylvania,  seemed  to  be  such  a 
man ;  but  after  his  election,  to  their  dismay, 
they  saw  him  kneeling  at  the  mass.  He  had 
yielded  to  Pomish  arguments, — that  none  but  a 
Bomanist  could  be  sustained  on  the  throne  of 
Poland,  and  that  the  Princess  Anna,  to  whom 
he  was  betrothed,  a  sister  of  Sigismund  Au¬ 
gustus,  was  a  bigoted  Bomanist  who  would 
not  accept  a  Protestant  husband.  Although 
he  promised  liberty  to  the  Protestants,  his 
election  was  the  turning  point  of  their  cause. 
His  reign  of  ten  years  gave  glory  to  Poland ; 
and  also  began  its  ruin  through  the  sway  of 
the  Jesuits. 

By  the  favor  of  Stephen  Bathori,  the  schools 
and  colleges  of  the  Jesuits  spread  over  the 
country.  At  Polotzk,  and  even  in  the  Lu¬ 
theran  province  of  Livonia,  at  Dorpat  and 
Biga,  he  founded  their  colleges  ;  and  in  Biga  he 
ordered  a  church  to  be  taken  from  the  Luther¬ 
ans  and  given  to  the  Jesuits.  In  Yilna,  he 
established  the  chief  Jesuit  university,  though 


MISSION  WORK  AMONG  THE  POLES 


45 


this  was  the  center  of  a  large  Protestant  popu¬ 
lation  and  of  the  Greek  Orthodox.  Prince 
Badziwill,  Palatine  of  Vilna,  refused  to  affix 
the  seal  of  the  State  to  the  charter  of  this 
university,  and  the  Piet  of  1585  attacked  the 
King’s  arbitrary  act  as  unconstitutional ;  but 
in  the  end  the  monarch  prevailed.  Jesuit 
influence  arrested  Bathori’s  victorious  career. 
The  Czar  Ivan  Yassilowich  deluded  the  Jesuit 
Possevinus,  who  believed  that  he  could  induce 
the  Church  of  Moscow  to  submit  to  Pome ; 
and  he  accordingly  persuaded  Bathori  to 
change  his  foreign  policy  and  conclude  peace 
with  Muscovy. 

After  the  death  of  Stephen  Bathori  there 
was  another  interregnum,  followed  by  the 
election  of  Sigismund  Yaza,  the  son  of  King 
John  of  Sweden,  and  Catharine  Jagellon, 
sister  of  Sigismund  Augustus.  Although  his 
father  was  a  Lutheran,  he  had  him  taught 
the  Polish  language  and  trained  in  the  Boman 
Catholic  faith,  with  reference  to  such  a  ca¬ 
reer  ;  while  his  mother  was  entirely  under 
Jesuit  influence.  The  long  reign  of  this  fa¬ 
natical  king,  known  as  Sigismund  the  Third, 
for  forty-five  years  (1587-1632)  led  to  the  ruin 
of  Protestantism  and  of  Poland.  The  kings  of 
Poland,  though  their  authority  was  limited,  had 


46 


MISSION  WORK  AMONG  THE  POLES 


the  power  to  distribute  domains  called  staros- 
ties  among  the  nobles,  who  held  them  for  life; 
and  these  were  bestowed  by  this  king  upon 
converts  to  Rome.  This  proselyting  policy 
had  its  effect  upon  ambitious  men.  At  the  be¬ 
ginning  of  his  reign,  the  senate  had  only  a. 
minority  of  Catholics ;  at  its  close,  it  had  but 
two  Protestants.  He  gloried  in  the  nickname 
of  King  of  the  Jesuits,  and  was  a  tool  in  their 
hands.  Their  riches  increased  so  rapidly  that 
in  1627  their  annual  income  was  four  hundred 
thousand  dollars,  a  large  sum  at  that  period. 
They  had  fifty  schools,  in  which  the  majority 
of  the  children  of  the  nobles  were  taught,  and 
thus  they  practically  superintended  national 
education.  Protestant  schools,  though  superior 
in  their  methods,  could  not  compete  with  the 
great  endowments  of  the  Jesuits.  They  were 
changed  into  Romish  schools,  were  abandoned 
entirely,  or  had  a  lingering  existence,  as  many 
of  their  noble  patrons  apostatized  to  Rome. 
Broscius,  a  zealous  Romanist,  described  the  svs- 
tem  of  teaching  in  Jesuit  schools  :  “  The  Jesu¬ 
its  teach  children  the  grammar  of  Alvar,1  which 
is  very  difficult  to  understand,  and  much  time 
is  spent  at  it.  This  they  do,  that  by  keeping 
children  a  long  time  in  school  they  may  be- 
1  A  Spanish  Jesuit  who  published  a  Latin  grammar. 


MISSION  WORK  AMONG  THE  POLES 


47 


come  well  acquainted  with  their  minds.  They 
want  to  keep  boys  at  school  till  the  age  of 
manhood,  that  they  may  engage  for  their  order 
those  who  show  much  talent  or  expect  laige 
inheritances.  But  when  an  individual  possesses 
no  talents,  nor  has  expectations,  they  will  not 
retain  him.  And  what  can  he  do  ?  Knowing 
nothing,  and  being  unlit  for  any  useful  occu¬ 
pation,  he  must  request  the  fathers  to  take 
care  of  him,  who  will  provide  him  with  an  in¬ 
ferior  office  in  the  household  of  some  benefac¬ 
tor  of  theirs,  that  they  may  make  use  of  him 
afterwards  as  a  tool  for  their  purposes.”  Litera¬ 
ture  rapidly  declined  under  this  withering  in¬ 
fluence  ;  and  scarcely  any  work  of  merit  was 
produced  from  that  time  until  the  latter  part 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  when  the  Jesuits 
lost  their  power.  The  language  was  corrupted 
by  a  mixture  of  Latin  and  barbaric  phrases 
called  Macaronic — a  badge  of  this  shameful 
servitude.  Contrary  to  the  decree  which  pro¬ 
claimed  the  liberty  of  the  press,  the  Jesuits 
introduced  their  censorship.  Many  Protestant 
printing  presses  went  the  way  of  their  schools, 
into  oblivion,  or  into  Pomanist  hands.  The 
Jesuits  systematically  destroyed  all  records 
and  memorials  of  Protestantism,  so  that  the 
materials  for  a  history  of  the  Polish  Keforma- 


48 


MISSION  WORK  AMONG  THE  POLES 


tion  have  become  rare  or  difficult  of  access ; 
which  accounts  for  the  fact  that  it  has  been 
obscured  and  undervalued. 

Krasinski  regards  the  overthrow  of  Protes¬ 
tantism  in  Poland  as  unparalleled  in  the  re¬ 
ligious  world.  It  was  not  suppressed  by  legal 
authority  as  in  Italy  or  Spain,  but  “by  an 
unprincipled  faction,  acting  in  opposition  to 
the  laws  of  the  country,  and  is  the  more 
remarkable,  as  the  free  institutions  of  Poland 
which  facilitated  the  progress  of  the  Refor- 
mation  were  afterwards  rendered  subservient 
to  the  persecution  of  its  disciples.”  “The 
most  invariable  and  successful  policy  of  the 
Jesuits  in  Poland  was  to  agitate  the  lower 
classes,  and  to  insure,  by  intrigues  with  the 
higher  ranks  of  society,  impunity  to  the  ex¬ 
cesses  which  an  infuriated  mob  committed  at 
their  instigation.” 

The  preaching  of  Cardinal  Hosius,  that  no 
faith  should  be  kept  with  heretics,  brought  its 
fruitage  when  the  Reformed  church  of  Cra¬ 
cow  was  pillaged  by  a  mob,  in  1574;  and 
other  outrages  occurred  there  in  later  years. 
Such  attempts  were  repeated  at  Vilna,  but 
restrained  by  Stephen  Bathori.  Another  riot 
occurred  in  1591,  when  the  Protestant  church 
at  Cracow  was  burned.  The  Jesuit  Skarga, 


MISSION  WORK  AMONG  THE  POLES 


49 


claiming  divine  inspiration,  highly  praised  the 
destruction  of  this  church.  The  congregation 
dared  not  rebuild  it,  but  transferred  their  place 
of  worship  to  the  neighboring  village  of 
Alexandrowice.  Sigismund  the  Third  left 
unpunished  the  rioters  who  in  1593  plundered 
the  house  of  John  Kolay,  one  of  the  principal 
citizens  of  Cracow,  and  a  member  of  this  con¬ 
gregation.  In  1613  another  mob  attacked 
Protestants  in  Alexandrowice;  and  they  again 
removed  their  place  of  worship  to  a  more  dis¬ 
tant  village.  In  1626,  materials  for  their  new 
building  in  this  village  were  destroyed  by  a 
mob.  In  1605,  and  in  subsequent  years,  the 
Protestant  churches  of  Posnania  were  sim¬ 
ilarly  destroyed  through  Jesuit  instigations. 
A  young  Italian  minister  at  Yilna  suffered 
martyrdom  for  his  faith  ;  and  like  persecutions 
occurred  at  Lublin.  Here  the  wife  of  William 
Tuck,  a  Scottish  merchant,  while  he  was 
absent  on  a  journey,  was  fettered  and  im¬ 
prisoned  for  her  faith,  which  she  would  not 
recant,  in  spite  of  threats  and  visits  of  the 
Jesuits.  When  asked  whether  she  were  a 
Catholic,  and  attended  the  confessional,  she 
replied,  “  Ho ;  I  am  evangelical  and  confess  my 
sins  to  God.”  She  was  the  mother  of  five 
children,  the  youngest  of  whom,  was  but  an 


50 


MISSION  WORK  AMONG  THE  POLES 


infant,  but  intercessions  in  her  behalf  were  in 
vain. 

Through  the  growing  power  of  the  Jesuits, 
such  excesses  could  not  be  prevented  by 
Vladislav  the  Fourth,  son  and  successor  of 
Sigismund  the  Third.  His  tolerance  was 
shown  by  his  acceptance  of  Christopher 
Badziwill’s  dedication  of  the  Bible,  alreadv 
mentioned.  With  conciliatory  designs,  he 
summoned  a  conference  of  Protestants  and 
Bomanists  at  Thorn  in  1645,  the  Colloquium 
Caritativum ,  as  it  was  called.  This  held 
thirty-six  meetings,  and  led  only  to  increased 
bitterness  and  controversial  publications. 

Vladislav  was  succeeded  by  his  brother, 
John  Casimir,  who  was  a  Jesuit  and  a  cardi¬ 
nal.  His  reign  continued  the  work  of  destruc¬ 
tion  begun  by  his  father,  Sigismund.  Protes¬ 
tantism  was  crushed  and  ceased  to  be  a  power 
in  the  nation.  Subsequent  kings,  including 
Sobieski  and  the  Saxon  dynasty  that  followed 
him,  were  unable  or  unwilling  to  punish  re¬ 
ligious  persecutions.  In  1724,  Posner  the 
burgomaster  of  Thorn  and  several  leading 
Protestants  were  executed,  upon  the  false 
charge  of  having  fomented  a  riot — atrocities 
which  sent  a  thrill  of  horror  throughout  Europe. 
Protests  came  from  the  English  Minister  at  the 


MISSION  WORK  AMONG  THE  POLES  51 

Polish  court,  from  Prussia,  Denmark,  Sweden, 
Holland,  and  even  from  the  Czar  of  Russia, 
who  threatened  war ;  but  all  this  only  made 
matters  worse  for  the  Protestants. 

But  the  misfortunes  of  Poland  accompanied 
the  persecution  of  evangelical  believers.  Civil 
war  broke  out  during  the  reign  of  Sigismund 
the  Third.  The  Muscovites  sought  an  alliance 
with  Poland  and  elected  his  son  Vladislav 
their  czar ;  but  Sigismund  sought  this  crown 
for  himself.  As  the  Muscovites  saw  his  zeal 
for  Rome  they  changed  their  policy  and  op¬ 
posed  a  Polish  alliance.  Tolerance  brought 
foreigners  to  Poland ;  intolerance  made  them 
emigrate  elsewhere.  The  borders  were  dev¬ 
astated  by  Turks  and  Tartars.  Stephen  Ba- 
thori  had  given  military  organization  to  the 
Cossacks  of  the  Ukraine,  who  fought  loyally 
for  Poland  against  Turks,  Tartars,  and  even 
their  brethren  the  Muscovites.  When  perse¬ 
cution  attacked  them,  when  the  last  Greek 
church  of  Lublin  was  taken  from  them,  Li- 
tynski,  one  of  their  nobles,  said,  “  God,  who 
surely  punishes  every  wickedness,  will  raise  a 
nation  which  will  take  for  one  a  hundred 
churches.”  The  revolt  of  the  Cossacks  as 
John  Casimir  came  to  the  throne  shook  the 
kingdom  of  Poland  to  its  foundations.  A 

O 


52 


MISSION  WORK  AMONG  THE  POLES 


king  of  Sweden  invaded  Poland  and  occupied 
the  greater  part  of  its  territory  for  a  time.  It 
was  natural,  though  unfortunate,  for  the  Prot¬ 
estants  of  Poland  to  look  to  Sweden  for  aid, 
to  Gustavus  Adolphus,  and  Charles  the  Twelfth. 
This  exposed  them  to  the  charge  of  being  un¬ 
patriotic,  though  they  furnished  some  of  Po¬ 
land’s  bravest  soldiers,  for  instance,  Christopher 
Radziwill  who  defended  Livonia  against  the 
Swedes.  King  Sigismund  hated  him  because 
he  was  a  Protestant,  and  allowed  his  royal 
flatterers  to  call  that  conflict  the  “  Kadziwill- 
ian  War.”  He  would  not  assist  Radziwill. 
In  the  end,  Livonia  was  lost  to  his  kingdom. 
The  fame  of  Poland’s  warriors  resounded 
through  Europe  in  the  seventeenth  century, 
but  they  could  not  prevent  her  fall. 

The  Elector  of  Saxony,  under  the  name  of 
Augustus  the  Second,  succeeded  John  Sobieski 
as  King  of  Poland  in  1696.  He  was  expelled 
from  the  country  by  Charles  the  Twelfth  of 
Sweden ;  but  after  the  battle  of  Pultava  was 
restored  by  the  aid  of  Peter  the  Great. 
Hitherto,  the  persecutions  of  Protestants  were 
conducted  in  defiance  of  constitutional  law, 
but  under  his  reign  the  laws  themselves  were 
changed  by  a  remarkable  treaty  wrhich  re¬ 
stricted  religious  liberty. 


MISSION  WORK  AMONG  THE  POLES 


53 


In  order  to  maintain  his  authority  against 
invaders  and  insurgents,  Augustus  kept  a  body 
of  Saxon  troops  in  Poland,  who  committed  ex¬ 
cesses  as  if  they  were  in  an  enemy’s  country. 
The  Poles  were  soon  at  war  with  these  troops, 
until  Peter  the  Great  intervened  and  drew  up 
the  Treaty  of  Warsaw  between  the  King  and 
the  nation  in  1716.  Szaniawski,  afterwards 
Bishop  of  Cracow,  who  owed  his  elevation  to 
the  Czar  Peter,  inserted  a  paragraph  which 
was  a  triumph  for  Pome :  “  As  it  is  not  al¬ 

lowed  to  the  dissident  in  the  Christian  religion 
to  have  any  churches  with  a  free  religious 
service  in  them,  except  such  as  were  built  be¬ 
fore  the  enactment  of  the  laws  of  1632,  1648, 
1668, 1674,  and  as  it  is  permitted  only  to  those 
dissidents  who  inhabit  the  towns  and  other 
places  of  the  kingdom  of  Poland  and  the 
grand  duchy  of  Lithuania  to  have  in  their 
dwellings  private  service,  nevertheless  with¬ 
out  singing  and  sermons,  therefore  it  is  en¬ 
acted  by  the  authority  of  the  present  treaty, 
that  all  Protestant  churches  which  may  be 
found  to  have  been  built  in  contravention  to 
the  above-mentioned  laws,  may  be  destroyed ; 
and  those  who  entertain  such  different  opinions 
about  religion  shall  not  have  any  meetings  or 
assemblies,  either  in  public  or  private,  for  the 


54 


MISSION  WORK  AMONG  THE  POLES 


sake  of  preaching  or  singing.”  But  this  same 
treaty  was  the  death  warrant  of  Polish  inde. 
pendence  ;  for  Szaniawski  put  in  another  clause 
which  reduced  the  army  of  Poland  from  eighty 
thousand  to  eighteen  thousand,  a  number  in¬ 
sufficient  to  guard  the  long  line  of  exposed 
frontiers. 

The  historian  Lelewel  says :  “  From  the  be¬ 

ginning  of  the  reign  of  John  Casimir  and  the 
Avars  of  the  Cossacks  to  the  end  of  the  Swedish 
Avars  and  the  Dumb  Diet,  i.  e.,  from  1648  to 
1717,  different  kinds  of  disasters  desolated  the 
Polish  soil  and  nation.  These  calamities 
caused  the  decline  of  Poland,  the  limits  of 
Avhich  Avere  narroAved  by  the  loss  of  many 
provinces,  whilst  its  population  was  diminished 
by  the  emigration  of  the  Cossacks,  the  Socin- 
ians,  and  a  great  number  of  Protestants,  as  Avell 
as  by  the  exclusion  from  the  rights  of  citizens  of 
the  remaining  dissidents.  The  nation  Avas 
rendered  weak  by  general  impoverishment 
and  distress  ;  by  the  system  of  education  Avhich 
Avas  either  in  the  hands  of  the  Jesuits  or  en¬ 
tirely  neglected ;  finally  by  the  exhaustion 
consequent  on  the  convulsive  struggles  that 
had  agitated  the  country  during  seventy 
years.” 

Under  Augustus  the  Third  the  dissidents 


MISSION  WORK  AMONG  THE  POLES 


55 


suffered,  as  is  shown  by  their  petition  to 
Stanislaus  Poniatowski  at  the  Diet  of  1766,  in 
which  they  say:  u  Our  churches  have  been 
partly  taken  from  us  under  different  pretenses, 
and  partly  are  falling  into  ruins,  as  the  repair¬ 
ing  of  them  is  prohibited.  Our  youth  is 
obliged  to  grow  up  in  ignorance,  and  without 
the  knowledge  of  God.  The  burying  of  our 
dead,  even  at  night  time,  is  exposed  to  great 
danger;  and  we  are  obliged  in  order  to  bap¬ 
tize  children  to  convey  them  out  of  the  coun¬ 
try.” 

But  the  md  was  at  hand.  Deforms  proposed 
by  Polish  patriots,  which  received  the  plau¬ 
dits  of  English  statesmen,  came  too  late  to  save 
the  unhappy  kingdom.  Three  successive  par¬ 
titions  in  a  little  more  than  twenty  years  di¬ 
vided  Poland  between  Russia,  Prussia,  and 
Austria,  and  it  vanished  from  the  map  of  Eu¬ 
rope.  Bloody  insurrections  have  failed  to 
break  the  Russian  yoke,  which  is  the  heavier 
for  the  presence  and  license  of  an  army  of 
three  hundred  thousand  Russian  soldiers. 

Krasinski  gives  a  description  of  the  Lithuan¬ 
ian  guards,  almost  exclusively  officered  by 
Protestant  nobles  of  that  province,  and  the 
fifth  regiment  of  infantry  which  contained 
many  of  them.  They  fought  the  forces  of 


56 


MISSION  WORK  AMONG  THE  POLES 


Suwaroff,  Nov.  5th,  1794,  “the  most  fatal  day 
of  Poland’s  annals.  The  commander  of  the 
last-named  regiment,  Count  Paul  Grabowski, 
belonging  to  a  distinguished  Protestant  family, 
a  young  man  of  great  merit,  was  then  laid  up 
with  illness.  He  dragged  himself,  however, 
from  his  sick  bed  in  order  not  to  miss  the  post 
of  honor  on  the  night  when  the  attack  was  ex¬ 
pected.  He  found  a  glorious  death  at  the  head 
of  his  regiment,  which,  with  the  Lithuanian 
guards,  was  lost  to  a  man ;  not  a  single 
man  escaped,  not  a  single  man  surrendered. 
This  fatal  day  threw  into  mourning  almost 
all  the  noble  Protestant  families  of  Lithu¬ 
ania.”  Our  author  frankly  confesses  mis¬ 
takes  of  Polish  Protestants ;  and  he  pathet¬ 
ically  closes  his  book  by  sho  wing  the  “  expia¬ 
tory  sacrifice  which  they  made  of  themselves 
on  the  funeral  pile  of  their  country.” 

Yet  after  centuries  of  persecution,  Polish 
Protestants  survive,  as  we  learn  from  a  letter 
dated  Warsaw,  May  9-21,  1884,  sent  to  the 
Belfast  Presbyterian  council,  by  the  Evan¬ 
gelical  Reformed  Consistory  in  the  kingdom  of 
Poland : — 

“  Perhaps  it  is  not  known  to  all  the  mem¬ 
bers  of  your  venerable  Assembly,  that  there 
exists  in  the  Kingdom  of  Poland,  an  Evangel- 


MISSION  WORK  AMONG  THE  POLES 


57 


ical  Reformed  Church,  with  a  Synodical  Pres¬ 
byterian  form  of  government,  which  conducts 
its  affairs  according  to  Church  order.  Al¬ 
though  the  spirit  of  the  Reformation  has  been 
partly  trodden  down  and  partly  chilled,  yet 
ten  Evangelical  Reformed  Congregations  form 
themselves  into  a  union  whose  affairs  are 
managed  by  an  annual  Synod,  not  ignoring  a 
Presbytery  in  every  congregation  ;  a  moder¬ 
ator  of  Synod  (the  Consistory)  carries  out  the 
findings  of  the  same,  and  is,  besides,  an  author¬ 
ity  mediating  between  the  Church  and  the 
State,  the  free  exercise  of  all  the  rights  of  the 
Church  not  being  interfered  with.  The  num¬ 
ber  of  souls  under  pastoral  care  is  six  thousand, 
besides  those  who  are  living  in  the  Dispersion. 
We  have  only  four  pastors  at  present  in  settled 
charges.  In  a  material  point  of  view,  there  is 
much  to  be  wished  for,  except  in  the  case  of 
the  congregation  in  Warsaw,  which  in  the 
year  1880  celebrated  joyfully  the  acquisition 
of  a  beautiful  house  of  worship.  The  harvest 
is  great ;  we  request  that  you  embrace  us  in 
your  intercessory  prayer,  that  the  Lord  of  the 
harvest  will  send  forth  laborers  into  his  har¬ 
vest.” 

The  report  of  the  London  Presbyterian 
Council,  1889,  gives  a  description  of  the  Re- 


58 


MISSION  WORK  AMONG  THE  POLES 


formed  churches  in  Russia,  which  it  classifies 
in  three  groups,  those  in  “  Poland,  Lithuania, 
and  the  rest  of  the  Empire.  1.  The  Reformed 
in  what  was  formerly  the  Kingdom  of  Poland 
—  partly  the  remains  of  the  once  flourishing 
Presbyterian  Church  of  Little  Poland,  formed 
into  a  Synod  by  John  a  Lasco,  number  at  pres¬ 
ent  six  thousand  five  hundred  or  seven  thou¬ 
sand  souls.  There  are  nine  congregations, 
with  a  Consistory  in  Warsaw.  The  oldest  of 
these  congregations,  that  of  Sereje,  was  founded 
in  1584;  that  of  Warsaw,  1776  ;  that  of  Zelow, 
1802,  which,  with  nearly  two  thousand  four 
hundred  members,  is  a  purely  Bohemian  con¬ 
gregation,  descendants  of  the  old  Bohemian 
Presbyterians.  2.  The  Reformed  congrega¬ 
tions  in  Lithuania  are  firmly  bound  together 
in  a  true  Presbyterian  organization,  which 
includes  thirteen  or  fourteen  congregations, 
embracing  about  eleven  thousand  one  hundred 
and  twenty-five  souls.  Some  congregations  are 
nearly  extinct ;  some  could  not  exist  but  for 
old  foundations  which  are  to  be  traced  to  the 
pious  and  powerful  Prince  Radziwill,  the 
friend  of  Calvin,  and  which  afford  material, 
though  at  present  wretched,  means  of  sup¬ 
port.  3.  The  Reformed  in  Russia  Proper,  form 
two  widely  separated  bodies,  which  because  of 


MISSION  WORK  AMONG  THE  POLES 


59 


the  vast  distance  separating  them  have  scarcely 
any  mutual  sympathy.” 

The  doctrines  of  the  Reformation  must  be 
preached  from  evangelical  pulpits,  or  instead 
of  a  standing  we  shall  have  a  falling  church. 
The  history  of  the  Reformation  illustrates 
these  doctrines.  Scripture  teaches  us  a  va¬ 
riety  of  uses  for  history.  For  instance:  In 
intercession,  “Yet  they  are  thy  people  and 
thine  inheritance,  which  thou  broughtest  out 
by  thy  mighty  power  and  by  thy  stretched 
out  arm.”  In  entreaty:  “Awake,  awake,  put 
on  strength,  O  arm  of  the  Lord ;  awake,  as  in 
the  ancient  days,  in  the  generations  of  old. 
Art  thou  not  it  that  hath  made  the  sea  a  way 
for  the  ransomed  to  pass  over  ?  ”  In  expostu¬ 
lation  :  “  O  my  people,  wherein  have  I  wearied 
thee  ?  For  I  brought  thee  up  out  of  the  land 
of  Egypt,  .  .  .  and  I  sent  before  thee 

Moses,  Aaron,  and  Miriam.”  In  praise  :  “  O 
give  thanks  ...  to  him  which  led  his 
people  through  the  wilderness :  for  his  mercy 
endureth  forever.”  In  promise:  “According 
to  the  word  that  I  covenanted  with  }rou  when 
ye  came  out  of  Egypt,  so  my  spirit  remaineth 
among  you :  fear  ye  not.”  In  America,  we 
may  enter  into  the  labors  of  the  departed 
saints  who  toiled  and  suffered  in  Europe  for 


60 


MISSION  WORK  AMONG  THE  POLES 


the  gospel.  Each  thought  of  the  judgment 
day  grows  more  impressive  as  we  see  how 
our  Master  puts  himself  in  the  place  of  the 
foreigner,  and  blesses  forever  his  true  bene¬ 
factors  by  the  gracious  acknowledgment,  “  I 
was  a  stranger,  and  ye  took  me  in.”  Poles 
are  already  joining  our  evangelical  churches. 
Schisms  in  their  Catholic  churches  sometimes 
show  how  restless  they  are  under  its  despotism. 
Let  us  give  them  the  colporteur  and  the  Bible, 
the  missionary  and  the  gospel.  They  are  worth 
saving.  The  Turks  had  long  possessed  the  city 
of  Constantine  and  the  church  of  Chrysostom ; 
and  boasted  that  they  would  also  capture 
Rome  and  make  St.  Peter’s  a  mosque.  Who 
rolled  back  that  tide  of  Mohammedan  inva¬ 
sion,  never  to  return?  John  Sobieski,  a  hero 
of  Poland.  He  had  fought  the  Ottomans  on 
the  Dniester,  and  although  their  position 
seemed  impregnable,  and  their  forces  four 
times  his  own,  he  won  a  glorious  victory,, 
Again,  before  terror-stricken  Yienna,  he  at¬ 
tacked  the  Turks,  outnumbering  his  army 
four  to  one.  One  hundred  and  twenty  thou¬ 
sand  Turkish  tents  were  still  standing  after 
the  battle.  His  decisive  victory  was  the  theme 
of  pulpits  in  Germany,  Italy,  and  even  in  the 
Protestant  churches  of  England.  Beside  him 


MISSION  WORK  AMONG  THE  POLES 


61 


in  the  old  cathedral  of  Cracow  (the  Polish 
Westminster  Abbey)  sleeps  Thaddeus  Kosci¬ 
usko  who  was  honored  by  Americans  for  his 
part  in  their  war  for  liberty.  Pulaski,  an¬ 
other  Pole,  showed  himself  a  hero  at  Brandy¬ 
wine  and  Germantown  ;  and  also  at  Savannah, 
where  he  fell  and  has  his  sepulcher,  erected 
by  the  people  of  Georgia,  its  corner  stone 
having  been  laid  by  Lafayette.  And  Poles 
will  make  good  soldiers  of  Jesus  Christ. 
Copernicus,  of  Poland,  whose  name  is  known 
wherever  astronomy  is  taught,  revolutionized 
that  science  and  discovered  the  secret  of  the 
stars.  Let  us  pray  God  that  he  may  raise  up 
from  this  people  some  who  shall  turn  many  to 
righteousness,  and  shine  as  the  stars  forever 
and  ever ! 


